meanwhile, her best friend is a brown girl whose parents are from africa but they are from egypt and so people tell her well, you know, you're not really black. you're african but not really african-american. both these girls are grappling with what it means to be brown skinned and who is really black in america today. >> this is a personal topic for you. it's part of your interest in all this. at what point did you realize, not to be indiscreet here, that your color changed the way people perceived you? >> early on. i grew up in an all white neighborhood in long island, so people made it very clear that our family didn't quite fit in. i have a similar background to nya's. my mom is black, my dad is white but my parents were very direct about our identity. for my five brothers and sisters and me.